Cookies for Kids’ Cancer was founded by two OXO employees who were inspired by their son Liam’s battle with pediatric cancer, a disease which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. The organization inspires others to join in the fight against pediatric cancer by raising the funds for new, improved and less toxic treatments in an effort to find a cure for pediatric cancer. Each year, bloggers and non bloggers alike bake cookies, hold bake sales and write posts to raise funds and awareness for this important cause. This year, OXO will donate a minimum of $25,000 and up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids Cancer. For every product you buy that bears this green sticker, OXO will donate 25 cents as part of its $100,000 pledge to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

Also, OXO will donate $100 for every blog post dedicated to their Cookies for Kids’ Cancer campaign during the month of October, so I baked these Katharine Hepburn Brownies for the cause. OXO generously sent me this 3 piece Brownie Set to use during my baking which includes:

First, I have to say, that this is one of the best baking pans I have in my collection now. It’s heavy gauge aluminized steel with a micro textured, patterned bottom surface that allows for improved airflow and even baking. I would really love to have this pan in other sizes and shapes as well.

In order to fill this 9×13 pan, I made a triple batch of these ultra gooey and chocolaty brownies. If you need a chocolate fix, just a small sliver of a piece will satiate your sweetest tooth. Some versions of this recipe use squares of unsweetened chocolate, but I use a good quality cocoa powder and think they turn out just as well. In addition, the original recipe calls for walnuts. I am the only one who would eat them with nuts and since that would be very bad for me, I leave them out and add chocolate chips instead. Just because you can never have too much chocolate.

Melt 3 sticks butter over medium heat in a heavy duty saucepan.Take off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder mixing completely.

Stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla. Beat the mixture well. It will thicken as you mix it.

Stir in flour and add the teaspoon salt. (In the original recipe, 1 cup chopped walnuts is added here but I have omitted them as a personal preference.)

Bake the brownies in a prepared pan for about 30 minutes. At this time, you can open the oven door and toss a cup of chocolate chips on top and continue baking for another 10 minutes.

With these brownies, it is hard to tell for sure that they are baked through. They should be gooey and won't come clean on the typical toothpick test. The best way to test for doneness is to see that the edges are crisp and the top starts to crack a bit. In her own words "Don't overbake them! They should be moist, not cakey!''

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Incidentally, Ms. Hepburn’s townhouse in Turtle Bay on the east side of Midtown Manhattan, was down the block from where I worked at Grey Advertising and I lived just a few blocks south in Tudor City. I actually saw her in the neighborhood on more than one occasion. Of course, I never dared to say hello, but I will continue to enjoy these brownies and say “Thanks, Kate” with every delicious bite.

The fine print: Cookies for Kids’ Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids’ Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.

– OXO will be donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this campaign in October (up to our $100,000 commitment*.)

– *In 2015, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer through product proceeds, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts

A pound or more of the smallest, deepest ruby red skinned plums from a farm upstate came home from Ari’s office last week. I ate some, and they were divine, incredibly sweet and oh, so juicy. The kind you eat standing over the sink.

Sadly, I knew I could not eat all of them fast enough before they went bad, so I pondered what to do with them.

In Italy, we ate frozen plums, the small, bluish-purple variety, as a refreshing and lite dessert after the long lingering meals on the veranda at Palazzo Bacile in Spongano when I was there for classes with the Awaiting Table. But I resisted the temptation to freeze them as much as I love recollecting those balmy summer evenings there.

A simple cake.

I hesitated because I did not want to use all of those precious picked plums in a cake, so I visited the store and added several more to my mix; sweet greenish-yellow Emerald Beauty plums, some Italian plums, and a few large deep black and ruby red plums that seemingly had no particular name other than ‘black and red’ plums as handwritten on the sign above their basket.

I really love to bake and after so many months away from my kitchen it’s nice to be back there and cooking again. The familiarity of my large metal mixing bowls and my favorite wooden spoons lends a sense of comfort and joy to my life and I am glad to be reunited with them once again.

I have a copy of the recipe I wanted to use. It is on a handwritten piece of paper that someone gave to me. But, as with most handed down recipes, it came from somewhere else. Turns out, the recipe for this cake is probably the most popular plum cake ever made. Maybe you have even made it yourself before!

It’s so simple. I make it all the time. It’s easily adaptable for every season’s fruit. I’ve used the same batter many times before but instead of plums, I have used strawberries or apples or even peaches or blueberries. Depending on what is ripe and what you have on hand, you can use it for virtually every fruit. I suspect it would also make a great banana or cherry cake as well.

It’s a cake with a history. Apparently it’s not called a cake though. It’s called a torte. I am not sure why. Although, it is dense and moist like I think a torte should be, it is missing the nuts and other ingredients you would normally find in a torte. I do suppose “torte” sounds as if a lot more effort were put into it. This “torte” is completely uncomplicated and yet it could be served at a holiday dinner party.

The recipe was first published in the New York Times by Marian Burros in 1983. It had been given to her by Lois Levine, co-author of their book Elegant But Easy. Every year from 1982 until 1995 the recipe was published in the Times and it was the one of most requested recipes each year.

Ms. Burros wrote in 1989:

“It is beyond understanding why fans of the recipe do not just save it from year to year, instead of depending on its appearance in this column. Yet, one of this year’s requests read, ”Isn’t it about time for the plum torte recipe?”

“…laminate this one and, instead of filing it with your other recipes, tack it on the inside of the cupboard where you keep the flour.”

-DE GUSTIBUS; Once More (Sigh), The Plum Torte

Published: September 13, 1989, NY Times

My copy is not laminated, nor is it tacked inside my pantry, but rather, it holds a prominent position in a binder book of mostly hand written recipes I call “All Things Sweet”.

Adapted from The New York Times and Elegant But Easy By Marian Burros, Lois Levine

Author: Renee

Ingredients

1 cup sugar + 1 teaspoon for the top

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup AP flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt (optional)

2 eggs

15 plums, pitted and cut in half

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. For a single recipe grease a 9 x 9" square pan and set aside. Double recipe for a 9x13" pan.

Cream together the sugar and butter in a large bowl.

Add the flour, baking powder, salt and eggs and beat well.

Pour the batter into the pan you prepared previously.

Place the plum halves skin side up on top of the batter.

Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into comes out clean, about 40 to 50 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack. Serve directly from pan.

Notes

If you plan on serving this cake at the table, you could also use a spring form pan so you will have a nice presentation.

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I was frugal with the plums in the cake and reserved just enough of the freshly picked gems to make a small batch of jam. Just a mere two jars and a small bowl, but enough so that I will have plenty for the next few weeks or so to spread on large pieces of challah, for breakfast, with cups of tea. It’s also incredibly good on top of a piece of roasted poultry.

Spiced Plum Jam

Yield: (4-5) 4oz or (2-3) 8oz jars.

Ingredients

2 pounds washed and prepared fruit (Peel, pit, chop, then weigh.)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cardamon

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped

Instructions

Prepare jars and lids for standard water bath canning. Keep clean (4-5) 4oz or (2-3) 8oz jars warm in a large pot of simmering water until ready to use. Have new lids and clean bands ready as well as a clean lint-free towel or paper towel to wipe jars.

If you are new to canning, I recommend you read this to get a feel for the basic procedures and precautions you should take to ensure you are creating a safe product.

Prepare fruit by peeling and pitting. To peel the fruit, slice a thin X in the bottom of the fruit, dip it in a pot of boiling water for about 20 seconds and quickly transfer to a bowl of ice water. The skin should peel off very easily. If you have a hard time getting it off, repeat the process.

Once the fruit has been peeled and pitted, cut into small chunks and place in a large bowl. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the fruit and toss to coat.

Place a small plate in the freezer (you will use this to test the jelling set of the jam).

In a large heavy bottom pot, add the fruit, water and sugar and cook, stirring continuously over medium high heat until it boils. You can mash the fruit at this point, but it will continue to break down as it cooks. Add the scraped vanilla and the pod (you will want to fish this out later)

Once the fruit boils, reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook until the mixture has darkened and begun to thicken, about 30-40 minutes. Just before the end of the cooking time, add the cardamom and stir to combine it well.

During this time, remove your jars from the pot of water and let them air dry on a clean towel.

Remove the plate from the freezer and spoon a small amount of jam onto it. To test if the jam is done, move the jam gently with your finger; it should wrinkle slightly and feel thick. Tilt the plate. The jam should be thick enough that it moves very slowly; if it is too runny, it’s not quite ready and you should continue to cook the jam for another couple of minutes before retesting.

Once you have the consistency you want, remove the pot from the heat. Fish out the vanilla pod and discard it.

Ladle the hot jam into the sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Wipe the rims clean if necessary with a clean towel or paper towel, set the lid on the jar and tighten the ring around it.

Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Remove the jars and set them upright on a clean kitchen towel. Within a couple of minutes, you should hear the jar lids “suck in” signifying that they have sealed properly.* Let the jars cool to room temperature before storing in a cool, dark place. Safety wise, they will keep for up to a year but after about 6 months or so, the color of the jam will start to darken and it may not taste its best, so try to use them within the first half year.

* If a jar has failed to seal properly, simply store it in the refrigerator, where it will last for at least 1 month. You can also reboil the jam and recan it, and give it another water bath.

I can’t believe that the last time I was here was right after I returned from France. I still want to tell you all about the wonderful gardens and Chateau du Rivau in Chinon, but that will have to be another time. I have a bit of catching up to do!

May turned into June and July and then August in a frenzy of activity. While I would like to say that I, myself, was the cause of all the busyness, really, it was the kids that kept me on the go this summer.

We began the first of what is now dubbed, “The College Sweatshirt Tour”. We amassed quite a collection of collegiate logo wear, not to mention several hundred miles in the car each weekend! I am proud that the girls are both spending their summers at various colleges taking classes and getting a sense of college life and what will be necessary for their applications and their aspirations. We are already planning the classes for next year.

During one of our (three) trips to Boston, we stayed in Providence one night and visited with one of my very best friends and dined at a fabulous restaurant, Bacaro. Hungry after the long drive, we ordered nearly the entire menu- platters of tapas, grilled pizzas, entrees, and desserts. Each dish was extremely flavorful and beautifully presented. It was nonstop eating until we just couldn’t anymore. Then, moaning from fullness, we walked back to her house in an attempt to digest before we collapsed for the night. Lunch the next day was a feast of leftovers from all the doggie bags we ended up bringing back. We will definitely return there again- but maybe not order so much food next time!

In Boston, we were able to do a little sightseeing (The Boston Science Museum was terrific!) and ended up dining at Summer Shack on three occasions. When traveling with kids, sometimes you find a place that everyone likes so you stick with it. Honestly, it was mostly me that wanted to go back. I absolutely loved their grilled fish with sweet potato and grilled corn hash. It was sweet, spicy and had little bits of crispy bacon- so good, I wanted more!

We also met up with Jackie Gordon of The Diva That Ate NY who was visiting with Lisa Goldfinger of the beautiful blog, Panning The Globe. Lisa opened her home to us one evening and she and Jackie prepared platters of glorious food. I’ve followed Lisa’s blog for quite some time so it was truly wonderful to meet her in person. If you have not seen it, please do go visit.

For my birthday, which I don’t really celebrate, after a breakfast crepe cake we ventured to Jackson Heights, Queens where I ate arepas, momos and more. We made an afternoon mini food crawl, but we are clearly amateurs since we only went to three places before everyone was full. I also finally got a chance to visit Despaña in Soho where we had tapas of patatas bravas, tortillas, and cervezas.

Labor Day weekend we went to a blow out barbecue hosted by my dear friend Lora of Diary of a Mad Haus Frau. There was much eating and deliciousness there, not to mention the awesome company. Jackie (Gordon) and Lora cooked up so many terrific dishes and Paul (Jackie’s partner) ran a liquid nitrogen ice cream bar and manned the grill. Ben also had a great time with Vicki Winters and her husband Daniel flying his drone. Fun!

In addition to my chocolate ganache tart, I brought one of my favorite salads to make, Bok Choy Salad with Soy Ginger Dressing. I’ve had this recipe for many years. Mine is a hand written and photocopied version that was given to me. I honestly have no idea who actually invented it, but a search of the internet it seems like it is a quite popular recipe in its many incarnations. So to whomever can claim this as their own, my many thanks. It’s a crowd pleaser. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!